DBG - January 23 - Exodus 10-12

In this chapter we continue the Ten Plagues against Egypt.

vs. 1-2 – God reveals one of the purposes behind the plagues, that the generations would know that He is God alone.

vs. 3 – The root cause of many sins is pride, which is identified here in Pharaoh’s refusal to humble himself to God.  See Proverbs 13:10.

vs. 4-7 – The Eighth Plague will be that of an infestation of locusts.  Locusts have been a enemy of agriculture in the ancient world for millennia, swarming in and decimating crops.  This would be far worse than anything before or since.  This is probably targeted at the gods Nut, Renenutet, or Serapis.  The Book of Joel speaks of an invasion of locusts and we see the imagery repeated in Revelation. 

vs. 8-11 – Pharaoh offers yet another compromise.  He will allow only the Hebrew men to go, but they must leave behind their wives and children.  This offer is of course refused, and they are run out of the palace.

vs. 13 – God often uses natural means in supernatural ways.  The wind seems to have swept up all the locusts in the territories east of Egypt and brings them all hurtling towards their appointed target.

vs. 17 – Pharaoh recognizes that God is behind the locusts and feigns repentance.  But this was just to rid himself of the judgment and not to cleanse his heart.

vs. 19 – God uses the same means of removal that He did to bring the locusts.  The swift winds blow them right back to the east where they had come from.

vs. 20 – Again Pharaoh changes his mind through a hardened heart and refuses to let the Hebrews go.

vs. 21 – The Ninth Plague of darkness is sent without warning.  The supernatural darkness is likely an attack at Ra the sun god.

vs. 22-23 – This darkness was present outdoors and indoors.  For the Egyptians no light could pierce it, so they stay huddled in their homes praying it will pass.  The Hebrews again were not affected by this plague.   

vs. 24 – Pharaoh offers yet another compromise.  This time the Hebrews could go do their sacrifices, but they must leave their children and livestock behind.

vs. 27-29 – Pharaoh again refuses to comply and threatens to kill Moses if he returns.  Moses’s reply shows that the time had come for the final plague.

In this chapter we see God begin to reveal what is to come in the final plague, the Passover.

vs. 1 – The result of the Tenth Plague will be final.  No more negotiations.  No more compromises.  Pharaoh will practically run the out of the country.

vs. 2-3 – The promise of 3:22 was to be fulfilled.  The Hebrews were to ask the Egyptians for jewelry to be used in the feast that Pharaoh had continually denied.  The plagues may not have broken the will of Pharaoh, but the common people and those of the royal court had learned to respect and even fear Moses and his God.

vs. 4-6 – This message is directed at Pharaoh.  The terrible judgment of the Passover is revealed.  The firstborn in all of Egypt of men and beast would die.  This would be the final straw that caused Pharaoh to finally break.

vs. 7 – Like many of the plagues, this would not affect the Hebrews. 

vs. 8 – The result will be that the Egyptians will beg the Hebrews to leave.  With the pronouncement of the plague completed, they swiftly turn and leave Pharaoh’s court before his anger would call for their deaths as he had promised.

vs. 9-10 – These words from the Lord had been given before this time.  Moses and Aaron had been the instruments of God to perform many mighty miracles, and yet Pharaoh refused to let the Hebrews go.  That is in the past and was accomplished according to God’s plan.  Now the paradigm has shifted.  The next plague will lead the release of the Hebrews.

In this chapter we see the Passover take place and its establishment as an annual memorial..

vs. 2 – The Jewish calendar is based on lunar months.  Each new moon is the beginning of a new month, roughly every 29.5 days. This particular month was called Abib, but after the Babylonian Captivity it was called Nisan. In the reckoning of months, it becomes the first.

vs. 3-6 – Every Jewish family, or a collection of families if they were poor, were to select a lamb or goat as a sacrifice on the 10th day of the month.  It had to be healthy and without any blemish, a male less than a year old.  They would keep it and watch over it until the evening of the 14th.  This was to prevent any harm or disqualification from happening to it.  It has also been pointed out that it created a connection between the families and their sacrifices.  This is an extremely personal observance.  We cannot help but see the connection to Christ’s sacrifice in every detail here.

vs. 7 – It was not enough for the sacrifice to die, but special application of the blood was required.  It was spattered above and on both sides of the door to the home.

vs. 8-11 – The Seder meal that followed the sacrifice of the lamb has fewer requirements in the first Passover than its later remembrances.  The meat must be roasted (a sign of judgement) and eaten with unleavened bread (leaven is a picture of sin) and bitter herbs (represents the bitterness of sin).  The meat was to be completely consumed, whether eaten or burned in fire.  It was to be eaten quickly by people packed and ready to leave.

vs. 12-13 – The only safety from the judgment of God that would slay all the firstborn men and animals in Egypt was to observe the Passover meal and apply the blood to the door.  No judgment would come where the blood had been applied.

vs. 14-20 – The foundation for future observances of the Passover is laid.  The feast would last seven days, from the 14th to the 21st.  The first and seventh days were to be observed as Sabbaths.  Leaven was to be removed from their homes and not consumed during this feast.

vs. 21-23 – The instructions for applying the blood to the door a given and the importance of the act is reiterated.

vs. 24-28 – The Passover has a two-fold meaning.  Here, it would be a reminder of God’s deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt and their establishment in the Promised Land.  The second meaning is only seen here in types and shadows as it points to the sacrifice of Christ and the redemption of man through His blood.  It is no accident that Christ was crucified at the time of the Passover.

vs. 29-32 – Everything happens as God had said on the terrible night of the Passover.  Those homes marked by the blood of sacrifice are untouched, but every Egyptian family is affected.  The horror of the nights breaks Pharaoh, who finally concedes to allow the Hebrews to leave.

vs. 33-34 – Pharaoh was in a hurry for them to leave, the Egyptians were in a hurry for them to leave, and the Hebrews were certainly in a hurry to leave!

vs. 35-36 – History is filled with stories of conquering armies plundering their defeated foes.  Here the Egyptians willingly hand over their wealth as a sign of their own subjugation.

vs. 37 – I must admit that most explanations for the route of the Exodus, especially from Egypt to Sinai, do not work in my opinion.  If you look at the maps in the back of most Bibles, the routes do not cross any bodies of water at all to show the Red Sea crossing.  We know were Rameses is at in Goshen in Egypt, but Succoth is uncertain.  It means “booths” or “tents”.  It likely comes from the fact it was the first place the Israelites stopped to make a camp.  The best explanation I am aware of as to the route of the Exodus is that the Hebrews travelled southeast to the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula and crossed the Gulf of Aqaba near the Straits of Tiran.  This website makes a compelling case that Succoth was about midway down the eastern shores of the Red Sea near where the Egyptians had mines: https://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-exodus-route-succoth.htm

vs. 37 – 600,000 Hebrew men, not counting women and children, leave Egypt.

vs. 38 – The “mixed multitude” refers to Egyptians that were moved by the Plagues to join Israel in their journey.

vs. 39 – Leavened dough takes time to rise.  The speediness of their pace did not allow time for this.

vs. 40-41 – We need to spend a moment here on the 430 years.  Paul also uses 430 years in Galatians 3:16-17, which appears to be the length of time from Abaraham’s call to the giving of the Law beginning in Exodus 20.  This makes it seem that the 430 years is not related to the length of time in Egypt from as a marker from the time Abraham entered Canaan, which the wording in vs. 41 would allow when it notes it happened on the same day of the event 430 years ago.   God told Abraham in Genesis 15:13 that his descendants would be subject to Egypt for 400 years and this is repeated in Acts 7:6. These could be explained as rounded down from 430 but they also appear to be referring to something else.  Both of these references refer to Abraham’s seed (which would being with Isaac) sojourning but not possessing the Promised Land.  The servitude in Egypt is only a part of that and not the entirety of the 400 years.

vs. 42-50 – Here are further prescriptions for the future observations of the Passover.  It is tied to the Jewish identity and outsiders were not allowed to partake without submitting to the covenant ordinance of circumcision.

Chapters 11 and 12 are some of the greatest chapters in the Bible.  Not only does God deliver Israel by his mighty hand from their servitude in Egypt, but also we find some of the clearest foreshadowing of Christ’s redemptive work. 

Our hymn today, At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing, was written in 1849 by Robert Campbell.  It skillfully links the shadows of the Passover with their fulfillment in Christ.

At the Lamb’s high feast we sing,
Praise to our victorious King,
Who hath washed us in the tide
Flowing from his pierced side;
Praise we Him, whose love divine
Gives His sacred blood for wine,
Gives His body for the feast,
Christ the victim, Christ the priest.

Where the Paschal blood is poured,
Death’s dark angel sheathes his sword;
Israel’s hosts triumphant go
Through the wave that drowns the foe.
Praise we Christ, whose blood was shed,
Paschal victim, paschal bread;
With sincerity and love
Eat we manna from above.

Mighty victim from the sky,
Hell’s fierce powers beneath Thee lie;
Thou hast conquered in the fight,
Thou hast brought us life and light;
Now no more can death appall,
Now no more the grave enthrall;
Thou hast opened paradise,
And in Thee Thy saints shall rise.

Paschal triumph, Easter joy,
Only sin can this destroy;
From sin’s death do Thou set free
Souls reborn, O Lord, in Thee.
Hymns of glory and of praise,
Father, to Thee we raise;
Risen Lord, all praise to Thee,
Ever with the Spirit be.